It is sometimes necessary to place dressings in a patient's nasal passages as a means to assist in treating damage to the nasal mucosa. This practice is often called “nasal packing.” Nasal packing typically is used to control bleeding of the nasal mucosa following surgical procedures or injury. However, nasal packing also is used to provide support to the nasal structures following surgery (e.g., nasal septal reconstruction (septoplasty) or rhinoplasty) and to prevent reinjury to the nasal mucosa due to nose picking, etc.
A number of different dressings have been used over the years for nasal packing. For example, cotton balls, wedges, and gauze have been applied to the nasal passages to control post-operative bleeding or prevent reinjury of the nasal mucosa. However, cotton-based packing materials can be difficult to remove from the nasal passages without leaving remnants of the dressing (e.g., pieces of the dressing or cotton fibers) in the nasal passages. Furthermore, if the cotton-based packing material is left in the nasal passages for an extended period of time, the packing material can begin to dry out and become adhered to the nasal mucosa. In these cases, if is often difficult to remove the cotton-based packing material without injuring the newly formed nasal mucosa, causing significant pain or discomfort and delaying the healing process.
Another class of dressings widely used in nasal packing is polyvinylacetate (PVA) dressings. While the monolithic nature of PVA dressings can provide for easier handling than cotton-based packing materials, PVA dressings are not without their drawbacks. For example, PVA dressings are relatively brittle, which can make insertion of the dressing into the nasal passages difficult. The relative inflexibility of PVA dressings can also cause considerable discomfort to patients both during and following application of the dressing. Furthermore, upon exposure to an external liquid (e.g., wound exudate), many PVA dressings can swell up to 20 times their original size (e.g., original nominal diameter). While this tendency to swell does provide additional support to the nasal structures, the excessive swelling usually exhibited by PVA dressings can make removal of the dressing more difficult. Lastly, as with cotton-based packing materials, PVA dressings can begin to dry out as the liquid absorbed by the dressing evaporates, thereby causing the dressing to adhere to the nasal mucosa. Removal of the dressing then usually causes injury to the newly formed nasal mucosa accompanied by significant pain or discomfort to the patient.
A need therefore exists for a wound dressing, and related method, that is suitable for insertion in the nasal passages and addresses the foregoing and other problems encountered with the use of existing nasal packing materials. The present invention provides such a wound dressing and method. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.